Global coronavirus pandemic deaths cross 69,000

LONDON: There are now more than 1.2 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in 183 countries and more than 69,000 people have died, reports BBC.

The United States has more than twice as many confirmed cases as any other single country and more than half of all the cases have been in Europe, with Spain and Italy worst affected.

This series of maps and charts tracks the spread of the virus since it emerged in China in December last year.

The virus is spreading rapidly in many countries and the death toll is still climbing - but the majority of people are recovering from the infection.

The country with the highest number of cases is the US, according to figures collated by Johns Hopkins University. With more than 337,000 confirmed cases, it has more than four times the official number recorded in China.

Around 3,300 people have died in China - but the US, UK, Italy, Spain, Iran and France now have higher death tolls.

The outbreak was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March. This is when an infectious disease is passing easily from person to person in many parts of the world at the same time.

The WHO said it took more than three months to reach the first 100,000 confirmed cases worldwide, but it took less than a week for the number to double from 500,000 to a million.

The true figure for the number of people with coronavirus is thought to be much higher as many of those with milder symptoms have not been tested and counted.

China says it has now all but stopped the spread of the disease and the authorities have started to allow some access to Wuhan, the city in Hubei province where the outbreak began.

South Korea, where a major outbreak began in February, has also seen its number of cases fall in the last couple of weeks.

But badly-affected countries like Italy, Spain and the US are still ramping up measures to try to slow down the spread of the virus.

Governments across the world have halted flights, locked down towns and cities and urged people to stay at home.